IFW Order

(1) Under TELESCOPE MOUNTS FOR IFW & TCF-S FOCUSER select the adapter for your telescope. Normally, the IFW is connected first and directly to the back of the telescope.

(2) Determine the length of cable needed to connect the hand control box to the IFW unit on the telescope. Select the control cable under CONTROL CABLES FOR IFW, TCF-S and TCF-S3 on page 6.

(3) If you wish to connect the IFW to a PC, determine the length of cable needed to connect the control box to the PC COM port. Select the PC control cable under PC SERIAL CABLES & CONVERTERS FOR TCF-S, TCF-S3, IFW and PYXIS on page 6.

(4) In addition to the PC cable, the PC Serial Port Convertor, #17695, must also be selected. This item converts the RJ-12 connector of the cable to the DB-9 style that is compatible with the standard COM port on some computers. Some newer computers have only USB ports and no DB-9 COM port. In this case, select #17690 single port or #17691 4-port USB-to-Serial converter.

(5) If you wish to connect the IFW to a SBIG camera directly for pulse width control of filter position, select the length of cable from SBIG CAMERA CABLES FOR IFW on page 5. This means of control is becoming less popular and will be discontinued in the near future for the IFW.

(6) Select the appropriate mounting ring from MOUNTING RINGS FOR IFW & MAXFILTER on page 5 to fit the desired instrument you wish to mount to the telescope. If you have a TCF-S focuser to mount, select #17461. #17460 will fit any 2" diameter accessory. You may wish to purchase several mounting rings to support various instruments. These rings screw into the back of the IFW and come off easily. Apogee camera users see text box in lower right of this page.

(7) Select one or more filter wheels found under FILTER WHEELS and specify in your order to Optec which filters to mount and in what order. FIlter positions are labeled 1 through 5 with position 1 considered the starting position. If a RGB filter set is selected consider a Luminance filter (#17241) or a Clear filter (#17230) to maintain the parfocality of the system. The same goes for the Bessel filters, to maintain parfocality include the Precision Clear (5 mm thick) filter (#17251).

(8) Each filter wheel has an ID that is an upper case letter code from A through F. Normally a RGB filter wheel has a "A" ID and a Bessell filter wheel a "B" ID. You can specify to Optec which ID letter you desire when ordering. Consult the manual for more detailed information.